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15/05/2016

So, as a carer you can sometimes have some very scary moments. For example seeing your loved one having a seizure, or hearing a doctor say that your husband needs to go on the suspected CANCER list!
As I heard those words my heart started pounding and I turned to the doctor and said Shit! He said “Yes, shit indeed”. I suddenly had this horrible feeling that I may lose @raspberrytalk. I know Cancer can be managed/treated these days and it’s not always a death sentence, but my mind just rushed to worst thought ever - especially as @raspberrytalk had been hiding his symptoms from me for at least 2 years and as you all know with CANCER time plays a big part … so you can see why I thought the worst.
Even though @raspberrytalk was sent for testing to make certain very quickly, for both of us it has seemed like a very, very long time. It has been a very stressful couple of months and I really don’t want to have to go through that kind of scare or stress again. I also don’t want @raspberrytalk to have to go through any of those tests or stress again – any of you that have ever had a colonoscopy will know what I’m talking about.
So, near the end of February We heard the C word and we finally received the test results letter in mid April saying that @raspberrytalk had been taken of the suspected CANCER list. Yeay! You can’t even imagine the relief I felt. Of course @raspberrytalk just looked at me and said “I told you it wasn’t CANCER”. Seems like I had more of a scare than he did.
However the letter did confirm that @raspberrytalk has Inflammatory Bowel Disease and if you read any info about this you will see that symptoms can include :-

all of which @raspberrytalk experiences, amongst other things.
As horrible as it is for @raspberrytalk having this disease, it could explain some of what he’s been going through and most likely has been contributing to all the other problems he has in relation to his ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia.
Both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease are long-term (chronic) conditions that involve inflammation of the gut (gastrointestinal tract). Thankfully @raspberrytalk does not have Crohn’s which can eventually KILL YOU(!) because of the complations it causes. He has Ulcerative Colitis, which is not nice and does cause complications of its own, but appears to be the lesser of two evils.
I’m thankful every day that @raspberrytalk does not have CANCER and think we should be counting our blessings.

Take care of each otherCarer’s Vent

Just as a side note, one of the tests @raspberrytalk had was an ultrasound on his Gallbladder, as they wanted to check that wasn’t the cause of the bleeding and stuff. All clear, but the lady doing the test did notice something on his Liver, but the ultrasound proved “inconclusive”. So they sent him for a complete CT scan with contrast injection (that left a lovely bruise!). We’re still waiting for the results, so the stress and worry begins again … or maybe never stops!? …...